Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 9: Genres: Caribbean and Latin America

Description

The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music Volume 9 is one of six volumes within the 'Genre' strand of the series. This volume discusses the genres of the Caribbean and Latin America relation to their cultural, historical and geographic origins; technical musical characteristics; instrumentation and use of voice; lyrics and language; typical features of performance and presentation; historical development and paths and modes of dissemination; influence of technology, the music industry and political and economic circumstances; changing stylistic features; notable and influential performers; and relationships to other genres and sub-genres. This volume features over 300 in-depth essays on genres ranging from Afro-Cuban Jazz to Alcatraz, from Carnaval to Charanga, and from Dancehall to Dub.

David Horn was a founding editor of the journal Popular Music (Cambridge University Press, 1981+), and a founding member of IASPM (The International Association for the Study of Popular Music). He was Director of the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Liverpool from 1988 until his retirement in 2002. Together with the blues scholar Paul Oliver he first proposed the idea of EPMOW in the 1980s, and has worked on the project since that time. Other recent publications include two edited volumes: The Cambridge Companion to Jazz (with Mervyn Cooke, 2002),and a special issue of Popular Music in honour of Paul Oliver (2006).

"Notable editors Shepherd (music & sociology, Carleton Univ., Ottawa) and Horn (ret. director, Inst. of Popular Music, Univ. of Liverpool) collaborated on this latest volume of a well-respected popular music encyclopedia, as they have for many others in the set. The first volume in the series covers aspects of media, industry, and society; the second focuses on performance and production; and subsequent volumes concentrate on popular music genres in specific geographic regions. This ninth volume, covering the Caribbean and Latin America, features over 200 entries by popular music scholars on a wide range of genres. Entries include bibliographies, discographies, and discographical references as well as additional information on visual recordings, interviews, filmography, websites, and/or sheet music. The volume begins with maps, followed by an alphabetical listing of entries on genres, and ends with an extensive index. Genres relevant to more than one geographic area are listed separately by location. The articles provide considerable detail, and the bibliographies are extensive where appropriate. VERDICT Libraries that own the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music do not necessarily need this set; however, it does provide comprehensive articles and references on Caribbean and Latin American popular music genres that will be useful to music researchers in this field. -- Elizabeth Berndt-Morris, Central Michigan Univ. * Library Journal *